My ten favourite Dharmendra songs

Dharmendra had his birthday on 8th December, but unfortunately it was shadowed by Dev Anand’s demise. Happy belated Birthday, Dharmendra!

So much has been written about Dharmendra’s good looks. What shall I add to it? When I think of his fine appearance, the song that comes to my mind is:
chaand aahen bharega (the moon will sigh)
phool dil tham lenge (the flowers will clasp their hearts)
husn ki baat chali to (when the talk is of good looks)
sab tera naam lenge (your name will be mentioned)
What I find enchanting about him is his dazzling smile. When he smiles it has an assurance of ‘everything will be fine’ and one just melts away. He was not only good looks; he also made some splendid movies, till he went into the kutte-kaminey mode.

Choosing songs from his films was not easy, since many good songs by Mohd. Rafi have picturised on him. So to make things easier for me I had to put in some rules
a) One song pro film
b) Only solo songs
c) Songs to which he lip syncs, i.e. no background songs,that is why pal pal dil ke paas from Blackmail [1973] is conspicuous by its absence.
After the correction by Samir, I’ll put another clause:
d) Songs, where he is not “in Rakhee’s imagination, or just floating around”, that is why pal pal dil ke paas from Blackmail [1973] is conspicuous by its absence. 😉

Ten favourite Dharmendra songs is not a very original post. Sunehriyaadein and Greta have also done a similar post some time ago. Here is my take on it. So, here we go…
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Tags: Aaj Mausam Bada Beimaan Hai, Aap Ke Haseen Rukh Pe, aga ye jawal ye laju nako, Anand Bakshi, Anjaan, Anupama [1966], Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi [1966], Bhupendra, Blackmail [1973], Do Chor [1972], Dulhan Ek Raat Ki [1967], Duniya O Duniya Tera Jawab Nahin, Ek Haseen Shaam Ko, Ek Hi Khwab Kai Baar Dekha, Gulzar, Happy Birthday Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Hemant Kumar, jaane woh kaise log they, Kahani Kismat Ki [1973], Kaifi Azmi, Kalyanji-Anandji, Khamoshi [1969], Kinara [1977], Kishore Kumar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Loafer [1973], Madan Mohan, Main Jat Yamla Pagla Deewana, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Mala Sinha, Meri Jaan, meri jaan meri jaan kehna maano, Mohammad Rafi, Mumtaz, My ten favourite Dharmendra songs, Naya Zamana [1971], Nutan, O. P. Nayyar, pal pal dil ke paas, Pratiggya [1975], Pyaasa, R. D. Burman, Rafta Rafta Dekho Aankh Meri Ladi Hai, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Rajinder Krishan, S. D. Burman, Tanuja, Tum Pukar Lo, Waheeda Rehman, Ya Dil Ki Suno
Hidden umbrella passions in ten Hindi film songs
Umbrellophily, a phenomenon not spoken sung about in the Hindi film industry. The author of these lines like many other fans of Hindi film songs was not aware of this shocking fact either. During his search for a list of his 10 favourite umbrella songs (since rain-song lists have been beaten to death), he stumbled over this taboo topic in the Hindi cinema. While he was searching, he could unearth only three songs, which mention an umbrella and two-thirds of them were not even melodious. Why this step-motherly treatment towards this ‘protector against rain’?
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Tags: aakhir tuut jaatha hai, Aap ke nazaron ne samjha, Aasha, Aayega, aayega aanewaalaa, Ab mera kaun sahara, Amitabh Bachchan, Anand Bakshi, Anpadh, Asha Bhosle, Asha Parekh, Ashok Kumar, bari, Barsaat, Bhichde sabhi bari, Dharmendra, Dhoop Chhaon, Do lafzon ki hai dil ki kahani, gondola, gondoliere, Gulzar, guru dutt, hai lagaa, Hasrat Jaipuri, Hema Malini, Hindi film songs, hum par jurm kare, Jaya Bhaduri, Joshila, K. C. Dey, K. L. Saigal, Kaagaz ke Phool, Kaantaa lagaa, Kaifi Azmi, Madhubala, Mahal, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Mala Sinha, My Sister. Do naina matware tihare, Nargis, Parichay, Pt. Sudarshan, pyaar ke kabil mujhe, Pyaasa, R. C. Boral, R. D. Burman, Rain songs, Raj Kapoor, Rameshwari, Reena Roy, Rehman, Samadhi, Shakti Samanta, Shankar-Jaikishan, Sheesha ho ya dil ho, Sonaa mile to log aaj kal dil ko kabhi na le, Teri ghathri me laaga chor musaafir jaag zara, The Great Gambler, umbrella, Umbrella passions, Umbrellophily, Vishal Bharadwaj, Zeenat Aman

The Story
The plot of Pyaasa though unique, lends heavily from two sources. One which is quite evident is Saratchandra Chatterji’s Devdas and the other is the story of Jesus Christ. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Calcutta, Devdas, guru dutt, Jesus Christ, Johny Walker, Kumkum, Leela Mishra, Mala Sinha, maya, Mehmood, Pyaasa, Rehman, S. D. Burman, Sahir Ludhianvi, spirituality, V. K. Murthy, Waheeda Rehman

When I first saw Pyaasa, I must have been eleven or twelve years old. Well, in fact, I didn’t get to watch it because 1. I had a exam the next day, 2. I had a splitting headache. The end result was I couldn’t watch the film, except for a few glimpses from behind the curtain, I didn’t learn, my headache didn’t get cured. Huge failure on all fronts! When I was 19 or so it was aired again on DD at midnight or something. This time I could watch it and I was floored! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Calcutta, guru dutt, Johnny Walker, Kumkum, Leela Mishra, Mala Sinha, poet, prostitution, Pyaasa, Pyaasa film review, Radheshyam, Rehman, Shyam, Tun tun, Waheeda Rehman